


Couple of Strays

by The_Plaid_Slytherin



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 06:59:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1931118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Saul comes home with a four-legged follower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Couple of Strays

Saul rang the doorbell. That in itself was unusual, but apparently, he didn't want to come inside for some reason. He was grinning, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"What's going on?" Bill asked. Then he saw the dog. 

"He followed me home," Saul said. "Can we keep him?" 

Bill stared down at the dog on the porch. It was definitely a mutt, no question. Red-brown and scruffy, it looked like it had been in one fight too many, judging by the state of its tattered ears. 

"Are you sure it's safe?" he asked Saul. "I wouldn't want him to bite the kids."

"He's perfectly harmless, look." Saul bent and scooped the puppy up (because Bill could see now that's just what it was). "He's a total sweetheart." Holding the dog in one arm, Saul scratched his ears with the other. The dog yipped and licked his hand. 

"I don't know," Bill said, gripping the doorframe a little. He'd never had a pet before. "With all our moving? In base housing? Wouldn't it be expensive?" 

"Nah, Bill, we had all kinds of mutts growing up. Not expensive at all." The look in Saul's eyes was giddy, hopeful, and Bill realized how much he must have wanted this—husband, two kids, house, dog. He'd always assumed Saul would never want to settle down, that he had been happy with all their years as just frakbuddies, but he'd realized after the divorce that that certainly wasn't the case, so why not this, too?

Saul hitched the dog up on his hip. They were already fast friends and seemed to be gazing adoringly at each other. They almost looked alike, both with shaggy red hair flopping in their eyes.

Bill laughed. 

Saul raised an eyebrow. "What?" 

"Nothing. I just realized I have a habit of taking in strays." He leaned in to give Saul a peck on the cheek and was rewarded with a lick in the face. 

Bill staggered back, wiping his face. The dog yipped happily and Saul beamed. Maybe he could get used to this. 

**

"Wow! A dog!" Lee and Zak tumbled out of the car, without even a backwards glance at the father they hadn't seen all summer. 

"WOOF!" The dog, dubbed Rover by Saul ("Nice solid name for a dog! Can't name him anything else!" Saul had declared; Bill was glad they weren't going to have to name a child together) came bounding around the side of the house, nearly tackling the boys. 

"Isn't he great?" Saul asked.

"Yeah!" Lee flung his arms around Rover. Bill had to admit he cleaned up nicely (kind of like Saul, actually). His ears were still straggly, but Bill supposed that was part of his charm. And he'd grown on Bill, too. Not quite at letting-him-sleep-in-their-bed levels, but Bill would pat him when Saul wasn't there and the other day, when Saul was gone on night training, Bill had been happy to have Rover's head in his lap as he waited up for him on the couch. 

He was getting soft in his old age.

"Daddy!" Zak shouted. "Come and see Rover!"

Bill laughed. "I've seen Rover," he said, but he started off across the lawn to where his family was playing. 

Maybe his stray habit wasn't so bad.


End file.
